Maverick lawmaker Claudia Mo Man-ching of the Civic Party has warned of a "Big Brother culture" in the party leadership, after a rift surfaced with a former chairman over the government's Sichuan earthquake relief donation.

Civic Party chairwoman Audrey Eu Yuet-mee took the opportunity of a Valentine's Day radio show to send out a message both bold and affectionate to other members of the pan-democratic camp. Under her leadership, the party is not going to wait for the government's proposals on democratic reform to be published: rather, it is going to get to work right away, together with other like-minded political parties, to spell out their own set of proposals for how to achieve universal suffrage.

Ending the small-house policy for indigenous villagers in the New Territories would boost land supply and ease the city's housing shortage, the Civic Party says.

And the land shortage should not be used as "an excuse" by the government for not relieving the housing situation, party executive committee member Bonnie Leung Wing-man said yesterday at the weekly City Forum.

Organisers of the January 1 protest march, which will demand Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s resignation, are worried that opponents may sneak into their peaceful ranks to provoke chaos, they said on Monday.

Their remarks, made on radio programmes, came a day after a cameraman was punched during a pro-government rally and a reporter suffered a minor injury near his right eye.

Customers of a travel agency - whose licence was temporarily revoked after clients complained of being stranded abroad when the firm failed to pay their tour guides - said yesterday that they were given promissory notes for trip refunds. They can claim the money in two weeks. Five branches of SIG Holiday, run by former Travel Industry Council chairman Simon Hau Suk-kei, had closed, but Hau claimed the branches were being renovated.